The Lok Sabha once again witnessed ruckus. This time over the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill that seeks to allow linking of Aadhar card to the Voter ID card. Anyhow, the reformist Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha on Monday. A day later, it was also passed by the Rajya Sabha and after President’s assent, it will become an Act of Parliament.
Election Reforms (Amendment) Bill will make elections free and fair:
With the latest Bill getting passed in both the Houses, elections in the country will become fairer.
Sources in the government told PTI that the linking of Aadhaar with Voter ID cards would solve the “major problem” of multiple enrollments of one person at different places and help in “cleaning” the voters’ list in a big way.
Presently, registration in the electoral roll is done on application by a person eligible to be registered as a voter. Sources noted that frequent shifting of residence and enrollment at new places without deleting the previous enrollment creates the problem of multiple enrollments.
Read more: Last date of linking your PAN to your AADHAR has been extended
Once the Aadhaar linking is complete, the electoral roll data system will automatically alert the existence of previous registration whenever a person applies for new registration. The latest Bill will, therefore, end an era in which people used to enrol in multiple electoral rolls and carry more than one electoral card. Aadhaar linkage will weed out fake and duplicate voter ID cards.
Why the opposition is protesting?
The opposition is protesting simply for the sake of it. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, “Aadhaar was meant to be proof of residence, not proof of citizenship. If you are asking an Aadhar card for the voter, all you get is a document that reflects residence. You are potentially giving voting rights to non-citizens.”
Manish Tewari, another Congress leader, said, “Voting is a legal right. Linking of Aadhaar with voter ID is wrong.”
Now, the thing is that Aadhaar is not being made a proof of citizenship. It is just being used as an instrument to verify the authenticity of existing voter ID cards. So, the Bill is not potentially giving voting rights to citizens. In fact, it is anyway a part of the BJP’s agenda to exclude illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from the country’s election process.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress leader Saugato Roy said, “The central government is interfering in the election process. I oppose this Bill.” Again, it is the Election Commission that will conduct elections, and the Bill only relates to a mere safeguard.
And while Tharoor claimed that non-citizens might end up getting voting rights due to Aadhaar-voter ID linkage, Asaduddin Owaisi had something else to say. The Hyderabad MP told NDTV, “This will weaken democracy and also the rights of citizens. Around 8 per cent discrepancies have been found in Aadhaar cards and 3 to 4 per cent errors have been found in electoral rolls. If this Bill is passed then a large number of people in this country will lose their right to vote.”
The opposition parties demanded Aadhaar-Voter ID linking in the past:
When the Modi government introduced the Election Reforms (Amendment) Bill, the Aadhaar-Voter ID linking suddenly became a bad thing. But the opposition parties actually wanted this reform to get through in the past.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla tweeted, “Election Commission of India held a meeting with all the recognised National and State Political Parties at New Delhi on various electoral reforms. All parties on record wanted to link aadhar to voter ID including Congress. Copy of ECI press note dated 27th Aug 2018.”
Election Commission of India held a meeting with all the recognised National and State Political Parties at New Delhi on various electoral reforms
All parties on record wanted to link aadhar to voter ID including Congress
Copy of ECI press note dated 27th Aug 2018
See pt 4 pic.twitter.com/7bNjqMWwgq
— Shehzad Jai Hind (@Shehzad_Ind) December 21, 2021
He also tweeted a screenshot from a TOI report stating, “Madhya Pradesh Congress asks CEC to link Aadhaar with voter ID before November polls.”
On 27th August 2018, the Election Commission had stated, “Political parties urged the Commission to link Aadhaar numbers with electors’ detail for better electoral management.”
In March 2020 too, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, had asked the government to undertake “appropriate actions” for “linking unique Aadhaar Card number with Voter ID Card”, and the opposition members in the Parliamentary panel had not objected, as per the Indian Express.
Read more: Election Commission’s plan to link Voter IDs with Aadhar will put many politicians out of business
How can it be that a reform that was demanded by all political parties suddenly becomes problematic? Even though the reform has been passed, it has ended up making the opposition go back on its own words.
